Various designs and configurations for open-top liquid container holders have been used before. U.S Pat. Nos. 1,782,962 to Hobbs; 3,269,683 to Shinaver; and 4,191,350 to Ormond, each disclose a cage-type holder comprising vertical struts joined at their upper and lower ends to two rings for providing wall support for the container. The Shinaver holder has a base made from eight fixed arms extending radially like the spokes of a wheel from a common central portion to a corresponding vertical strut. This cage-type holder, however, is not flexible because of its fixed-diameter base and therefore, it cannot be used for a wide variety of container sizes. The Hobbs holder also has a fixed diameter base due to member 12. Similarly, the Ormond container cannot expand to hold a container larger than lower ring 42.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,902,608 to Baltzley et al. discloses a holder for a glass having an expandable supporting base, however, this holder is complicated and hard to make because of its many moving parts. The following patents show other designs and configurations for container holders: U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,778,823; 1,903,225; 3,568,969; 3,814,367; 4,131,259; 4,634,089; 4,654,274; 4,655,425; and 4,678,154.
It would be desirable, to provide a flexible holder for an open-top liquid container having a simple, expandable base which can receive a variety of different sizes of containers and which could be easily attached to or removed from a support such as a car window. Preferably, the holder could also accommodate containers having a handle such as a mug.